Diane Amendt Memorial Scholarship for the Arts

Growing up through foster care, abusive homes, bullying and being low income was a thing but easy. However, I was able to find second home in the theatre, a home that took me as I was and found a place for me. It allowed me to feel useful, wanted, and talented. In my first production, a parody of Sleeping Beauty including Elvis Presley, I played Beauty's loveable sidekick, a sweet puppy who is always wanting to play. I didn't realize it at the time but that first production lead me to realize that I loved theatre. I later took on roles such as the Genie in Aladdin, Highschool Girl in Tracks, Leopold in Luchadora!, and lead roles in several self or group written plays that were preformed for audiences and competitions. When I'm not on stage I'm working behind the scenes, being useful in multiple departments. I've been a lighting designer and light board operator, spotlight operator, sound board operator, stage manager, and makeup captain. Some of these roles such as lighting designer, stage manager, light board operator and makeup captain I've held multiple times. My favorite role I've held is being stage manager for The Addams Family Musical at my school. I've also been apart of props crew, makeup crew, and costume crew without holding any leadership positions. All of these roles allowed me to build skills in the theatre arts, skills that I will one day use in the real world and in college. This last year I've grown tremendously as an actor and technician. This is all thanks to my current theatre director who I will call Mrs. R. When I first transferred to this school in the last quarter of my junior year, I was put into her general theatre class. When I discussed wanting to join a production she suggested putting me into one of her "real" theatre classes. The general theatre class was for students looking to fulfill their arts credit but not interested in acting or tech. She had just moved to this school and the theatre department was filled with a small group of individuals and the department's goal for the year was just to get by. I was moved to the technical class and immediately started taking on jobs, first a spotlight operator for a musical then a lighting designer for a dance performance and more. I was excited and wanted to do everything I could. Mrs. R could see that I loved theatre with my whole heart, and she supported me. She kept allowing me to be a sponge and soak up the experiences. When it came time to apply to colleges I sought her advice on what programs were the best fit for me. Knowing my passion to do anything and everything theatre she suggested the Johnston Program at the University of Redlands. This program allowed me to build my own major and take classes from any department I wanted without restrictions to major. I could pursue acting, technical theatre, dancing, and singing to grow my craft and learn skills to help my future students. It was the perfect fit for me. Mrs. R gave me a place in her theatre, allowed me to grow my craft, and connected me with a way to grow my craft even more, she's pushed me and helped me more than words can say.